The dreaded “R” word – recession – has been dominating business headlines for months now. More and more economists are predicting bleak economic conditions and weak job growth in the coming months.

If you get laid off, you can only hope you saw the writing on the wall long before your company announced its cuts. You can only hope you leave with an impressive work history, great recommendations, and updated skills. You can only hope.

Unfortunately, not everyone is so prepared when the boss delivers a pink slip.

Here are some things you can do starting today — whether you think you face a layoff or not — to keep yourself relevant on the job:

Act as if your job is always on the line, even if you’re still on the company payroll. Strive to make yourself more valuable — not just to your current employer, but also to any potential employers you’ll need to win over in the future.

Imagine yourself interviewing for a new position. Can you point to specific ways in which you’ve improved your skills and grown on the job? If so, keep up the good work.

Document your accomplishments. Update your resume regularly to reflect your ever-increasing skills on the job. You can use this information during your performance review and salary negotiations or, should the worst happen, for finding other employment quickly.

If, however, you’ve been coasting in your current position, it’s time to take some initiative. Try these surefire ways to increase your value as an employee:
Read (more…)

The US is already in a recession and it will be longer as well as deeper than many people expect, US investor Warren Buffett said. Warren Buffett said the economy is still in a recession and unlikely to improve before 2009 but that stocks appear better valued than a year ago.

He said in an interview the US was “already in recession” and added: “Perhaps not in the sense that economists would define it” with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. “But the people are already feeling the effects,” said Buffett, the world’s richest man. “It will be deeper and last longer than many think.”

“You always find out who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out. We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach,” said Buffett, who in March was called the world’s richest person by Forbes magazine.

But that is just part of a market system. And you know, if I had to pick the chances that we are going into a recession, I would say they are fairly significant, but I don’t know anything that you don’t know.

However he said that won’t stop him from investing in selected companies and said he remained interested in well-managed German family-owned companies.

“If the world were falling apart I’d still invest in companies,” he said.

Read (more…)

Even if Washington is still hesitant to use the “R” word, we all know how things are headed. Most of us remember the drill from 2001 and the early nineties. At least that should be one comfort to us all — the fact that a slumping economy is indeed cyclical and the most recent recessions were short-lived.

Yes, we will eventually find our way out of this mess. The trick is to make it through the recession unscathed so there won’t be too many broken pieces to pick up.

Here are five tips for getting through a recession with nary a mark on you:

1. Increase Your Emergency Fund – You have probably heard this advice many times before, but it is more important now than ever. You should have three to six months worth of living expenses saved for an emergency. Is this realistic for the average debt-riddled American? Perhaps not, but now is the time to become frugal and start saving as much as possible.

2. Reconsider That Second Home – One of the worst things you can do right now is buy a second home before you sell the first one. The housing market is going to get worse before it gets better. Even if you qualify for a second mortgage and can eat two mortgages for a while, do you really want to live with that situation for an indefinite amount of time? The truth is, mortgage lenders are being extremely careful these days. Even if you can find willing buyers, it is hard to find buyers that qualify for a loan.

3. Start Training for Additional Job Skills – The most recession-proof industries are health care, education, security, energy and the environmental sector. Whether you work in one of those industries or not, you should try to increase your “hireability” by training for additional skills. Perhaps your company offers additional job training or there are adult education courses you could take at night.

Read (more…)

« Previous Page